Draconic King of Shadows-Chapter 57: Racing Into the Unknown

Damion’s eyes widened in shock at the absurdity of the situation, and he didn’t linger for a second more before he began sprinting at his fastest speed.

The whole group broke out into a wild run, boosting themselves forward with their various abilities so as to not be left behind.

They all shot Alexia an angry gaze, before streaking forward at fast speeds.

It was clear Alexia had done that on purpose. She was either targeting them, or she just found fun in watching them struggle.

Even Kaiden didn’t look so pleased with his sister.

Speaking of Kaiden, he was undoubtedly the fastest, and he didn’t hesitate to rub it in their face, blasting ahead with rings of lightning beneath his feets and raising dust and a gust of wind to block their vision.

Damion frowned at this, but he didn’t have the time to complain. He was amongst those with average speed in the group, and he needed to do something fast.

’I can’t reveal Shadow Possession right at the start of everything,’ Damion thought. ’It’s one of my trump cards... I need to think of something else.’

An idea struck him at that moment, just like the stone that was about to strike him, and he activated Shadow Walk.

He fell through the shadows, and reappeared ahead... right from Matilda’s shadow.

’It worked!’ Damion exclaimed internally with a smile. He had doubts about the skill working with Matilda’s shadow, but since everything about her was different compared to anyone else —because of their bond— he tested it, taking mental notes of the result.

Kenzo, who was running by his sister’s side, was shocked by Damion’s sudden appearance, and so was Matilda who happened to look behind just as he popped out of her shadow.

Damion ignored their surprised gazes and tried to keep up, however, he failed again, his speed lacking.

He repeated the same thing and popped out of Matilda’s shadow, only to lag behind after a few seconds. No matter how hard he tried, he wasn’t able to easily keep up unless he went all out. Luckily, he wasn’t the only one facing such a challenge.

Jordan was in the same shoes as Damion. He found it hard to keep up with the others, though he still had his ways.

He formed three clones using his Ability, and he made two of them launch the third forward, before he switched places with it.

The three clones were then destroyed, and the process was repeated.

When he lagged again, he did the same move, taking himself forward with his unique combination.

Damion was baffled by this. Those at the front didn’t notice this, as they were focused on what was ahead, and those at the back didn’t either, as they were focused on what was behind.

Damion, on the other hand, was the only one relaxed enough about his situation to notice. One use of Shadow Walk sent him forward, and when he lagged, he witnessed Jordan in action.

Damion watched Jordan’s Technique with great interest. He had never seen anything like it before. Jordan’s Ability was used in a very smart way, and Damion found himself wondering what other tricks Jordan had up his sleeve.

As they continued to run though, Damion found himself falling behind once again. He used Shadow Walk to catch up, but he knew he couldn’t keep relying on it. He needed to find a way to increase his speed if he was going to keep up with others.

The distance between his position and the end of the hall was unknown, so he couldn’t tell if he would run out of Mana before he got there.

Just as Damion was starting to contemplate, Lyra slowed down and moved alongside him.

"Hey, Damion, are you okay?" She asked.

Damion nodded, flashing her a subtle smile before returning to his thoughts.

Lyra gave him some space after noticing his partial absentmindedness, and she moved forward after she got no attention from him.

’It seems like I’ll have to keep doing this until we get to the end of the tunnel,’ Damion thought after a while of thorough brainstorming.

He didn’t come up with any ideas, and even the Blessing of Knowledge seemed dormant, ditching him when he needed it the most.

Another Shadow Walk took him to the front, and before he could start lagging once again, he caught a glimpse of a light at the end of the tunnel.

Damion’s gaze sharpened, and he focused his attention on his surroundings properly. The last parts of the sprint would probably be more dangerous than the previous, so he had to be careful.

The team huddled together subconsciously, and everyone was suddenly divided into groups.

Damion, Lyra, Matilda and Kenzo were one. Kaiden, Noriko and Aspasia were another, Melruen and Emily stuck together like glue, and Jordan, who didn’t seem to be doing very well, was on his own.

A few lucky students with speed related Abilities were among them, and they formed the last group.

Damion had already prepared himself for anything. He had steeled his mind to bear pain and spread out Dragon’s Authority to monitor the surroundings.

It seemed like he was ready for anything, but the sudden attack of a student caught him off guard, and before he knew it, a Scramasax was flying towards his side, too fast for him to react.

The Scramasax glinted in the light, cutting through the air at superspeed, but what the student attacking him failed to consider was Damion’s alertness. Though Damion wasn’t fast enough to dodge, was that his only option?

[Shadow Pulse]

This skill was his first, and it had received several upgrades after leveling up multiple times. If it originally was like styrofoam when it hit, now it was like a brick wall slamming into Drax’s arm and causing it to rebound.

Drax was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the shadow, but with his super speed, he was able to retreat.

He massaged his wrist, feeling the numbness of hitting another hard surface with a metallic weapon.

Damion looked in his direction when Shadow Pulse fell and raised his eyebrows as if he had just seen an amusing thing.

Drax gritted his teeth, but he couldn’t attack again, at least not now.

He returned to his team, defeated.

His actions seemed to have raised the tension by another notch, and everyone became cautious.

Damion’s eyes narrowed as he watched Drax retreat, his mind racing with memories of him.

He knew that Drax’s attack was not just an act against him, but a calculated move to gain an advantage.

Lyra, who was ahead, slowed down again, preparing to ask the obvious with a concerned expression.

Damion shook his head at her, and she understood what he wanted, keeping her mouth shut.

After analyzing the group for a while, he shifted his gaze to the surroundings and couldn’t help but furrow his brows.

’How did the hall even transform into this tunnel?’ He thought, his eyes scanning the rough walls.

He looked ahead, the light at the end of the tunnel getting closer. His Mana was below half, and he didn’t feel fatigued.

’Everything’s going well.’ he thought and glanced at the students ahead.

He sighted Emily, and a small smile appeared on his face.

Emily, the female student with the Earth Ability, sat on a platform of earth that carried her forward quickly, yet gently.

She had it easy the most out of everyone there, well, excluding Kaiden of course. She hadn’t moved a muscle since the beginning of the sprint, and she didn’t seem to be running low on Mana either.

’But, how come I had missed the large shadow under the earth platform?’ Damion asked himself, a smile blooming on his face.

The white light at the end of the tunnel got brighter, and everyone soon came to a stop before it, confusion plastered on their faces.

What they hadn’t expected was for the light to not be the exit of the tunnel, but actually a large glowing crystal with spiralling markings on its surface.

"That’s it?" Noriko said out loud, heaving a deep breath.

"I doubt," Jason said from behind as he landed lightly, his face pale, but his eyes glinting with untapped energy.

"The tunnel is still collapsing, so this is definitely not the end."

"Speaking of the collapsing tunnel, is there no way for you to slow it down while we figure out what to do?" Aspasia turned to Emily and asked.

"You say it like it’s easy..." Emily scoffed, throwing Aspasia a derisive gaze.

Sparks flew between the two ladies, and for a second it seemed like a fight was going to break out. But, before that could happen, a figure walking between them to get to the crystal took their attention away.

Everyone frowned. They didn’t know what to do next, and it seemed like they had just been brought here to be executed, to be buried alive. Yet, this person whom no one thought much of, was playing around with the crystal.

Damion’s hand brushed the crystal, and a screen popped up.

__________

[Higher Rank 1]

[Teleportation Crystal]

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[Would the host like to teleport to the marked location?]

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Damion’s eyes flashed with surprise, but he quickly hid it and pressed a palm against the crystal.

"Get away from the crystal!" Noriko suddenly ordered and moved to push Damion. He took a step forward and raised his arm, but right before he made contact with Damion, the crystal lit up with a blinding flash of light, and Noriko was forced to take a step back.

’Matilda,’ Damion began, speaking directly into Matilda’s mind. ’Infuse your mana into the crystal, and it’ll do the rest.’

’Tell Kenzo and Lyra... the crystal has a limited number of teleportations left.’